


Haunting

by BunniesofDoom



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crying, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post-Volume 7 (RWBY), Pre-Volume 8 (RWBY), Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28640370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: Those words won't stop echoing in Ruby's mind.
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	Haunting

**Author's Note:**

> Just going to casually ignore what actually happens in volume 8 for this mess. I'm not super happy with the second half of this but I feel like it's as good as it can be right now. Funny how out of practice I feel when I don't write for a few days. Content warning for canon character death.
> 
> Enjoy!

"Your mother said the same thing. She was wrong too."

Those words won't stop echoing in Ruby's mind. No matter how many times she tries to clear her head and banish the thoughts of what happened to her mother in favor of focusing on their current situation, she can't stop thinking about what Salem had said to her. She can't help but wonder about the truth about her mother's death.

It's not as if Ruby had never spent much time thinking about her mother's fate; although she tries her best to stay positive, on her darker days, she dwells on her mother's death often. From imagining what sort of opponent her mother had been facing, the details of her last mission, whether she'd gone down fighting, and what her final words and thoughts might have been, Ruby has wondered about what happened to Summer for years.

After discovering the existence of Salem and the truth about Professor Ozpin and the Grimm, Ruby had started to imagine that her mother had been fighting against Salem's forces when she'd left for her mission. Her conversation with Qrow had only confirmed her suspicions. It hadn't been pleasant to think about. But somehow, Salem's revelation had made it so much worse than before.

Salem could have lied, she reminds herself. She could have just said that to get in your head and mess with you. It's not as if the queen of Grimm was above lying, after all.

Unless the truth would be far more painful.

She's quiet when they reunite with the others and start trying to come up with a plan, nodding occasionally when she's asked for her opinion and hoping that no one notices that she's not paying attention. The quiet conversation of her friends seems much too loud in the small, cramped space of the airship. Her thoughts are jumbled and conflicted and hard to make sense of. She feels lonely and distant and somehow separated from everyone else despite their obvious presence right beside her.

Maybe she just needs some sleep. They're all exhausted. It's been an extraordinarily long day.

So, when the others start to settle down, she goes through the motions of getting ready for bed. She tries in vain to clear her messy thoughts and imagine pleasant nonsense. Even though she's bone-tired, it takes her a long time to fall asleep. It feels like she tosses and turns restlessly for hours.

Eventually, though, she must have actually fallen asleep, because she finds herself dreaming. Even unconscious, though, she can't seem to catch a break. Her dreams are anything but peaceful.

Growing up, she's had her fair share of bad dreams about her mother's death. Ever since she had been old enough to vaguely understand what had happened to her mother, she'd had occasional nightmares about it, dreams full of blood and terror that she usually awoke from screaming bloody murder.

Tonight, her dream opens with Salem towering over her mother, smirking in satisfaction at the woman kneeling before her. Summer looks tired, battered, like she's been fighting hard and she's reached the end of her strength. She must be afraid—Ruby would be—but if she feels any fear, it doesn't show in her face. Her gaze is steady as she glares up at Salem.

"Just because you can't be killed doesn't mean you can't be beaten."

"Perhaps you're right," Salem muses calmly. "But, even if that happens to be true, I'm afraid that it's far too late for you, my dear. You will not be the one to defeat me. How does if feel to know that all of your efforts were in vain, that you will never see your daughters again?"

"You haven't won yet," Summer shoots back, voice firm and unwavering. "So don't start gloating."

Salem just smirks wider. "Who do you think that you're trying to fool? Your little trick didn't work on me. I'm afraid that you're out of options." She glances over at something that Ruby can't quite make out. "My dears, thank you for waiting so patiently. You can have your dinner now."

Suddenly, Grimm come pouring out of the shadows of the room, latching onto Summer and dragging her into the black pool at the center of the dim chamber. Summer screams in pain and tries to free herself with a flash of her silver eyes, to no avail. There's just too many of them. "This isn't over!"

"It is over, for you at least." Salem watches calmly as the huntress in front of her is devoured. "I do hate to be the one to separate parents from their children. Can't you see that this is all your fault, Ozma?"

Gasping for air, Ruby shoots bolt upright, heart pounding wildly. She claps a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, glancing nervously around the room to make sure that she hasn't woken any of the others. She lets out a sigh of relief when no one seems to be looking at her, making herself take several deep breaths until her heart rate is back to normal.

Just a dream she reminds herself. It was a nightmare, that's all. It wasn't real.

But it had felt so real.

She steels herself to try to go back to sleep, or, more likely, to lay back down and pretend to sleep until morning. She'll be fine. She can handle this on her own.

"Ruby? Are you okay?" Her sister's soft voice, in the quiet of the airship, makes her jump. Before she can come up with an excuse or an apology, the corner of her sister's mouth twitches. "I'll take that as a no. What's wrong?"

Shaking her head to clear it, Ruby frantically tries to compose herself. "Nothing, nothing, it's fine. Go back to sleep."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Ruby, you're crying."

"Huh?" Ruby brings a hand up to her face, and sure enough, her cheeks are wet. When did she start crying?

Yang places a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Was it a nightmare?"

Ruby nods. "About mom." She feels fresh tears running down her cheeks, and she swipes at them angrily. "I can't get what Salem said out of my head," she admits quietly, swallowing hard against the sudden lump in her throat.

She doesn't realize that she's started crying in earnest until Yang wraps an arm around her shoulders and a sob lodges in her throat. "Shhh, it's okay."

"Somehow it's worse now that I know what happened." She barely manages to choke the words out before she's crying too hard to speak. She tries to turn away and curl in on herself, but Yang just pulls her closer, rubs gentle circles on her back. Her sister doesn't complain, even though her shoulder must be getting damp with tears and snot.

"Just breathe. You're going to be okay, I promise."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.


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